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Could We Abort a Manned Mission To Mars?
StartsWithABang writes: The next great leap in human spaceflight is a manned mission to a world within our Solar System: most likely Mars. But if something went wrong along the journey — at launch, close to Earth, or en route — whether biological or mechanical, would there be any way to return to Earth? This article is a fun (and sobering) look at what the limits of physics and technology allow at present.
If you're interested in a hard sci-fi, near-future look at how a catastrophic Mars mission might go, you should read an excellent novel called The Martian by Andy Weir.
Yes, the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria could've gone back home - so could the Mayflower (yeah, yeah, I know, I'm pasty white, etc.)
It's a lot harder to do that with a spacecraft if you know you need the Oberth effect of your destination to make it home.
So? A poll was done a while ago indicating that a lot of qualified people would go if they had 1 chance in 2 of surviving.
The only safe ship is the one that never leaves harbor...
Liberty - Security - Laziness - Pick any two.
The first mission or two is probably no return anyway so who cares if you can't abort?
I'd still sign on in a heartbeat.
We need to be WAY less cautious about manned space travel again, we aren't going to do much of import at this pace.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Your opinion of what a good parent is, isn't the end all, be all, of parenting...
Parents brought their kids to America on ships a long time ago, ever heard of the Mayflower?
Many died...
Those who didn't, experienced something well beyond the "comfort and safety" of Europe...
[citation needed]
I think we will never achieve a great leap forward until we come to terms with the fact that what is holding us back from leaping forward is the irrational notion that we need to send flesh for a mission to be legitimate. Sending human flesh to another planet is about as useful long term as sending frozen steak or a banana. We don't insist on using only our hand when building a house: we use tools and machinery. In fact, it is said that the thing that separates us from other species is our tool making. We make tools to achieve the things we want to do, and to advance and make our lives better. The tools for exploring outer space are unmanned probes, robots, machines. Machines that don't require flesh in situ to make them work. 10000 years ago, flesh was needed to dig a hole. Now, we use a back hoe. We don't think of a hole dug by a back hoe as somehow suspect because we didn't dig it by hand. Why is space travel subject to these artificial constraints? Sure: Before the age of computers we didn't imagine machines could be sufficiently autonomous to enable them to be effective, long term in space. But now, we know better. In the 1960s, it was thought the future lay with sending humans into space to move levers. Now, we know better. The humans are just inert luggage. Let's go luggage free.
We still don't have a station orbiting the moon. We don't have a station on the moon. We don't have a sustainable system within our own lunar orbit.
The only reason a Mars mission is one way is because we insist on building the vehicles and launching from Earth.
The cost of launching from earth is much higher than from space because we have to break Earth's gravity and pass through the atmosphere.
We picked on India for making it to Mars by basically cutting corners and just slingshotting a chunk of cheap crap at Mars and then said "ours costs more because we're more conservative". What's our response? Throw a huge expensive chunk of metal at Mars to prove we do it better.
Build the next space station already. Build it big and ship it people and supplies and do it there. If we cat accomplish that, we don belong in space.
It's OK as proper SF, but the main character is depicted almost as lacking emotions.
He's not lacking emotions. It's just that when something bad happens he curses and then sits about working the problem.
At one point Venkat comments on it by explaining that he's a NASA Mars Astronaut - One of the best in the world at coping with difficult situations.
"He's stuck out there. He thinks he's totally alone and that we all gave up on him. What kind of effect does that have on a man's psychology?" He turned back to Venkat. "I wonder what he's thinking right now?"
LOG ENTRY: SOL 61 How come Aquaman can control whales? They're mammals! Makes no sense."